While nations like Russia continue to struggle with fielding nuclear-propulsion in missiles, the United States was already testing a nuclear-powered bomber all the way back in 1955, in the form of the massive Convair NB-36 Crusader.
The bomber carried a 1-megawatt, air-cooled nuclear reactor that hung on a hook inside its cavernous weapons bay that had to be lowered through the bomb bay doors into shielded underground facilities for storage between flights. Believe it or not… it only gets crazier from there.
In theory, a nuclear-powered bomber could literally stay airborne for weeks at a time (if not longer) and could reach any target on the planet without the need to land or refuel. Today, in the era of intercontinental ballistic missiles with truly global reach and submarine-launched ballistic missiles that can be fired from 70% of the globe, keeping a bomber in the sky for weeks on end seems ludicrous, but for a good portion of the Cold War (specifically from 1960 to 1968), that’s exactly what America did.
